Longstanding liberal arguments tying support for violent political organizations to peoples’ economic prospects, resulting in the subsequent government policy recommendations, now have been proven to be a lot of politically correct garbage.

COMBATING militant violence – particularly within South Asia and the Middle East – stands at the top of the international security agenda. Much of the policy literature focuses on poverty as a root cause of support for violent political groups and on economic development as a key to addressing the challenges of militancy and terrorism. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this contention, particularly in the case of Islamist militant organizations.